Just another News Press

Verify: Understanding the Russian Federation investigation

The Washington Post reported this week that Special Counsel Robert Mueller was also investigating the president for possible obstruction of justice, citing unnamed sources, a development that Mr Trump appeared to confirm in his Friday morning tweet.The Washington Post reported this week that Mueller is investigating whether Trump attempted to obstruct justice when he suggested Comey drop an FBI investigation into Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser, as well as when he fired Comey. “Sad!” the president tweeted Friday.Last month, Rosenstein wrote a memo to the president raising concerns over Comey’s performance.”Witch Hunt”, Trump tweeted on Friday, apparently referring to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Robert Mueller as special counsel to overtake the sprawling Russian Federation probe.As part of his probe into possible obstruction, Mueller has requested interviews with senior intelligence officials about their conversations with Trump, a former senior intelligence official with knowledge of the discussions confirmed to NBC News. “Nice”, Trump wrote in his first tweet.Mark Corallo, spokesman for Trump’s personal lawyer, Marc Kasowitz, said earlier this week that, “The FBI leak of information regarding the president is outrageous, inexcusable, and illegal“.Mr Rosenstein has said privately he may need to recuse himself from matters relating to the Russian Federation probe because he could become a witness in the investigation, ABC News reported on Friday.Rosenstein told a congressional panel this week that he was not in favour of firing Mueller without just cause.Democrats note that after the Justice Department appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the Watergate break-in during the in the 1970s, then-President Richard Nixon ordered the department to fire the special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, prompting his attorney general and deputy attorney general both to resign in what became known as the “Saturday Night Massacre”.Rosenstein had written a memo, which was publicly released, recommending to the president that Comey be axed.On Thursday Trump derided a “witch hunt” against him, led by some “very bad” people.Trump: “Oh, I was going to fire regardless of recommendation”.Friday could – and perhaps should – have been a day for celebrating his accession to the White House two years after most pundits said his announcement speech was a nonstarter.Trump’s young presidency has been battered by allegations-under investigation both by Congress and the FBI-that Russian Federation interfered to sway the 2016 election in his favor, in possible collusion with Trump’s campaign team. Now there’s some question of whether President Trump wants to fire Mueller.Trump’s Twitter response followed days of intensifying criticism of Mueller from some conservatives who have charged the former Federal Bureau of Investigation director and his team with political bias and have claimed his relationship to Comey and an earlier meeting with Trump amount to conflicts of interest.